WARNING: Some of our male readers may find the following report distressing and should look away now!

For a new study of female shopping habits has thrown open the wardrobe door to reveal the full extent of a woman's passion for fashion.

In Style magazine quizzed 3,792 women aged 20 to 40 and found one in ten have spent at least £2,000 on a single item of clothing or an accessory.

The average monthly spend on clothes and accessories was £170 although one in six confessed to forking out £350 per month.

More than half shopped to cheer themselves up, a quarter loved hunting for bargains in the sales and one in five treated shopping as a hobby.

Around 51 per cent said they shopped at least once a fortnight although two per cent said they only went shopping every six months.

Jeff Bray, a lecturer in retailing and consumer behaviour at Bournemouth University, has coined the term fashionitis to describe a person's obsession with clothes shopping.

"They get a real buzz out of buying and conversely will become depressed if they are unable to find the style or product they like.

"Numerous celebrities have described experiencing such symptoms with Tara Palmer-Tomkinson regretting a recent £50,000 shopping trip and Elton John admitting to a £40 million spree.

"Other symptoms include the purchase of one item in several different colours only to discover you already own something very similar. A recent survey shows that the average woman owns 14 unworn items at a cost of £305 (men by comparison own an average of nine unworn items at a cost £168)."

However, he questioned the figures in the magazine survey which he felt were unrealistically high.

"But it's true to say that shopping is now the fourth most important leisure activity in this country. It is increasing due to the increase in wealth as people earn better salaries.

"Now that our basic need for food, shelter and warmth are met we are turning to psychological consumption to satisfy our deeper needs for being loved and feeling good about ourselves."

Tracie Beardsley, who runs Fab Frocks of Westbourne, was also surprised to hear that anyone would spend £2,000 on a single item of clothing or accessory.

"I can spend money with the best of them but even I have never spent anywhere near that. The closest I've ever got to spending that amount was on my wedding dress.

"We have had customers spend around £1,200 or £1,400 in the shop but that included several dresses as well as accessories. I suppose it's all relative to what you earn, though."

Several Bournemouth mums admitted to having a splurge in order to cheer themselves up but didn't want to be identified for fear of reprisals from their other halves!

One Bournemouth mother of three, admitted to splashing out around £1,000 in about ten minutes in a local fashion boutique.

"I was on a real high until I realised that I didn't have any shoes to go with it so I then went to the shoe shop up the road and spent £400 on a new pair!"